Villagers move to halt Sierra Leone deforestation

Deep inside a Sierra Leone national park, a mother of seven was about to set dozens of tree trunks ablaze to make charcoal.

- Lucie Peytermann, Agence France-Presse

Producing the cheap fuel in this way is illegal in the protected rainforest near the capital of a country highly vulnerable to the ravages of climate change. But Aminata Sankoh, a widow who said she had no other choice for making a living, defiantly shrugged off a stern warning from a group of villagers who monitor the forests as part of a groundbreaking grassroots initiative. “You are saying you are not affected by this deforestation, that there will be tree planting — but it will affect your own great grandchildren!” chided group leader Caesar Senesie.

The extent of the deforestation in the humid tropical forest and what remains of the primary forest is clear as far as the eye can see. Some has been taken over for marijuana plantations — Sierra Leone is battling drug problems — and land grabbing is also rife to satisfy demographic pressures.